Marcin Rzepka

Anglicans in Iran during the Islamic Revolution

The Islamic Revolution had a great impact on defining the position of religious minorities in Iran. Christians belonging to ethnic churches – Armenians and Assyrians – obtained constitutional rights. Others, especially Anglicans, conducting missionary activity, faced restrictions and persecution such as confiscation of property and arrests caused by the revolutionary authorities.
The article presents Anglicans’ attitudes toward the Islamic Revolution, taking into account the international context of events related to the imprisonment of British citizens in 1980 – employees of the Anglican Diocese of Iran. It tries to prove, in fact, profound changes, both quantitative and qualitative, within Christianity in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

An Apostolic legacy. The beginnings of Pentecostal Christianity in Iran (1908-1916)
The development of Pentecostal Christianity in Iran in the years 1908-1916 was connected above all to the activity of the Assyrians living in the south-western part of the country, and especially the area surrounding the city of Urmia. At the turn of the 20th century, this relatively small area became the subject of numerous Christian missions – Catholic, Presbyterian, Anglican and Orthodox – which had a significant influence on the region’s religious structure. On top of its religious activity, the thriving and very active Presbyterian mission, founded in 1835, contributed to the region’s cultural revival by establishing a network of schools. It also offered the opportunity for continued education in the USA, something which Andrew Urshan benefited from in the early 20th century. Having connected with the Pentecostal movement during his stay in the USA, he founded the Persian Pentecostal Mission in Chicago, giving himself the task of propagating Pentecostal experiences among Assyrians in Iran. As early as 1908, Urshan’s associates travelled to Iran, whereas he followed several years later, in 1914. However, the political situation connected with the outbreak of the First World War and military actions in northern Iran meant that missionary work was impossible. The mission broke up, and ceased to operate in 1916. It was significant particularly for its attempt to combine Pentecostal experiences with the history of the Assyrians themselves – as Urshan’s writings testify – and for its efforts to remind them of, or rather restore, the apostolic legacy.

Conversions to Christianity in Pre-revolutionary Iran

Conversions to Christianity in Iran before the Islamic Revolution in 1979, being an evident result of the missionary activity conducted in this area from the 19th century, could be studied as part of the history of Christianity among Iranians. Conversions to Christianity, rather rare in the period analysed, are connected to the social and political changes in the whole country. There are two moments which seem to have given the best opportunity for spreading Christianity among Iranian people: 1) the political transformation starting in the 1920s – the end of the Qajar dynasty and the beginning of the reign of Reza Pahlavi, before he started to implement his national policy and 2) the 1960s – the reign of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Among all Christian churches existing in Iran at that time, only the Anglican Church was focused mainly on proselytising and turning Iranian Muslims, Jews or Zoroastrians to the Christian faith. However, the statistics indicate that, in spite of such activity, the total number of converts prior to the revolution did not exceed 1000.

Migrations of the Assyrians from Iran during World War I: Fragmentization of tradition and the new forms of religiosity
By focusing on the Assyrian Christians scattered around Urmia in the north-western part of Iran during World War I, the article analyzes the processes and changes that occurred in the religious life of the population under the circumstances of depravity, trauma and migration. The migrations, as it is suggested, caused two opposing tendencies among Assyrians strengthening individualization and ethnicization of the religious matters. The migratory experience played a crucial role in transforming the Church institutions as it might be seen in reference to the Assyrian Church of the East and shifting the focus away from religious authority while giving space to more emotional, private, and finally Pentecostal religiosity.

Focusing on the early Pahlavi period the article is aimed at showing the tendencies and processes of development of Christianity among the Iranians as well as the circumstances under which the Protestant believes were communicated, debated and assimilated by the Iranian converts. Adopting the historical methods for describing the social changes that occurred in Iran as a result of the authoritarian policy of the Iranian monarch Reza Shah the article reveals the concept of conversion as a change of values arguing that the converts constructing and imagining their identity remained Iranians by keeping the most valuable feature – the Persian language. Thus, the religious conversion was associated with the concept of Iran-ness (iraniyyat) yet an alternative to the state national policy at that time.